Nami's Flight
by Alastair
Summary: Long before Skypiea, Nami had already learned to fly. LxN if you squint and stand on your head. Oneshot prequel to 'A Log Pose to Nami.'


**Nami's Flight**

In the early morning of light sunshine, she rose from her bed. Taking up clothes to change into, Nami left her room after grinning at the sound of the boys on the other side of the wall. When she was on the deck, she leaned against the stern's railing, shading her eyes as if she might still see her island in the distance.

She touched her cheek in thought, tilting her head as the rising sun touched the clouds.

When the sun was a little higher in the sky, the ship stirred around her as the boys awoke, and went on to do their own things. Nami smiled at the scent of bacon, and the yelping sounds of a very hungry captain whose fingers had obviously either gotten too close to the fire or had been caught by the cook. Soon the smell of gunpowder and tabasco joined the bacon's scent, and then her mouth watered when sausages and thick pancakes touched her nose.

Closing her eyes, the chink of iron and steel entered her senses, a soft backdrop to the rest of her world. Sputters of the kitchen intensified to a point that she could hear it more clearly than the metal's clink, and it became apparent that Sanji's breakfast cooking gala was about to come to an end. There was the twang of a rubber band stretched taut and then released in testing, and then Usopp chortled something to Zolo that she didn't hear. The two men laughed, and she almost smiled with them though she had heard nothing but their mirth.

The background noise drifted away. Plates chimed as Sanji set the inside table, and the boys wandered into the kitchen, slip away with their sounds and laughter. Her hand tightened on the rail before she forced herself to unwind, scowling at the thought of being left by her lonesome after the most recent events of their journey.

Someone grabbed her hips, and threw her into the air.

Shrieking, Nami's eyes opened immediately, and she fell down backwards, her arms flailing out as if she could catch her own tumbling body. Hands roughly seized her from the air, and she turned her head just in time to see the widest grin she had ever seen before she was thrown again.

"Luffy!" She managed to say, but it was swallowed up by another scream when she descended.

When he caught her the second time, he tossed her over the cabin instead, and her body rolled in the air from the force of his thrust, swirling with no control. A blur of red and blue was all she saw of him, and she knew then that he had taken to the air as well – the fact aided when his arms stretched out from the center of the boat to pluck her from the sky when she was about to collapse onto the roof of the kitchen cabin.

She slammed against his chest, and he lurched backwards in the rebound, but he used the impact to spin in place before he flung her straight up into the air again, using the centrifugal force caused by her fast paced air travel. Past the main sail she soared, and over the mast and crow's nest. So powerful was his arm and the rate at which she was traveling, Nami seemed to float on the wind for the most terrifying and invigorating of moments. Her arms swung out again, briefly steadying herself, spreading them as if she might flap her arms to keep up instead of coming crashing to the ship.

As she dropped back down, she didn't scream, though her breath dammed in her chest as if she might start.

Luffy had clasped the gaff of the sail, catapulting himself onto the crow's nest, and he waited there – standing on the edge of the banister – for the barest second. When her body was level with the top of their flag, he jumped, turning around in mid-air, and she fell into his arms.

Her stomach connected to his chest, and his arms folded around her thighs in reflex, his head neatly enclosed just beneath her bosom. Clinging to his head, the two sank back before Luffy's feet hit the deck near _Merry_'s figurehead. His hands grabbed her hips again, and his arms straightened at an upward angle to keep her suspended in the air.

Nami's mouth, still open after so many screams that had left her throat raw, shut quietly, and her wide eyes gaped at his cheerful face. He said, "Hey!"

"Hey," she said, blinking rapidly when she realized that she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Time to eat," he said, and Nami nodded, wincing when her feet touched the deck.

Her flight had lasted an eternity, and in the end, she hadn't wanted it to cease. While she had flown above their Jolly Roger, and soared high enough to touch clouds like the sun, Nami had seen the oncoming horizon, glimmering with light from the risen sun and the sparkling waves. Gazing into the even, steady eyes of Luffy, she vowed never again to face toward the stern of the ship. From that point on, she would look ahead with arms open to catch the wind, and feel hands on her hips that would propel her forward though she might be afraid.

Her past was over.

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**THE END**

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_I wrote this in a couple hours after the idea hit me, and so here it is – as if you didn't know. I may do a sort of companion piece to this, though it's still part of the little _ALPTN _thing going on. And … uh … -shrugs- I guess this was a bit more practice with working on Nami and her character – and some fun with Luffy, of course. Especially pre-Grand Line stuff since I'm still sorting things in my head about the prequel. It'll all come together though – have no fear. I might have to resort to another one-shot next week though if it doesn't come together that quickly._

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